The below linked article caused a stir when it was first published – a national newspaper giving voice to what was commonly known and commonly denied by those with something to hide in ndn country.

AIM was more than a band of roving militants as the article describes them, the leadership was in fact a cadre of money grubbing self serving thugs willing to go to any length in their quest for personal power, influence, and above all money.

Fiefdoms were carved out, so much so that Russell Means boasted nothing could occur on the Pine Ridge reservation without his personal knowledge and consent – a boast that would come back to haunt him following the murder of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash and probably played a role in his becoming a “snitch” as he “assisted law enforcement” in investigations.

Power struggles and inter clique armed standoffs such as the one that occurred at Ajo, Arizona over who got to lead a rally, who got the photo op to strut and play the role of warrior

Bodies began turning up, the newspaper office of Tim Giago was firebombed as the result of unflattering articles related to AIM that appeared in his newspaper.

Threats against life and limb, even directed at family and children were common place as the body count rose.

Murder was the norm on PR and not all of it was AIM sponsored – Dick Wilson who if he hadn’t been on the opposing side would have been a perfect fit for an AIM leadership role as his disdain for human life was rivaled only by their own.

His goal mirrored that of Means, Banks, and the Bellecourts – it was power and influence he was after and woe to any who contested his ambitions. He had his goons and AIM had their’s.

Ultimately Wilson was something of a windfall for AIM, as the body count grew so did the confusion, so too did the ability for both sides to deny culpability and lay the blame on the other – if not each other then the feds.

Wilson afforded the opportunity for AIM to invade the village of Wounded Knee under the pretext of a “liberation” effort.

A liberation that resulted in the gutting of the community and multiple murders committed by the thugs that populated AIM.

Something to this day AIM has never acknowledged, apologized for, or made any effort to compensate and assist in the rebuilding.

They in fact attempted an internet fundraiser to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of carnage, murder, and mayhem – a fund raiser seeking fifty thousand dollars that fell flat on it’s face.

An omen perhaps that the blood soaked AIM banner no longer flew as high among those with romantic notions of cowboys and ndns, nor the media that had once pandered to them.

That the feathers so artfully crafted to resemble a peace sign would have been more representative had they been the skeletal remains of their victims.

The AIM theater of “oppressed warriors” that fed the public such standards as “it’s a good day to die” and “ in the spirit of crazy horse” became too transparent and in that transparency questions arose – questions met with silence, talk of conspiracies, and of course the ever present lies that were the stock in trade.

A movement like AIM will always draw well intentioned people, but it is also a thug magnet, and thugs abounded in the movement.

Thugs like Leonard Peltier, a second rate wannabe at best on the run from a Wisconsin warrant, or fellow thug Dave Hill AIM’s resident bomb maker – kindred spirits cleaving to one another.

At the apex of thuggery were individuals like Means and Dennis Bank$ – the photo accompanying this article speaks to their fascination with photo ops and role playing.

Here we have the contemplative stoic ndn framed by a background of tipis, all that was missing was to photo shop the car out and replace it with a horse or two – the public would have loved it.

AIM appeared at a pivotal movement in this countries history, a time of civil-rights protests and a growing social awareness of long running inequities.

A time of the United Farm Workers and Caesar Chavez a man of great dignity and integrity – a time of the Black Panthers, the Symbionese Liberation Army, Students for a Democratic Society, Woodstock, Hippies and Yuppies.

A void existed among the nations, gone we’re the great leaders of the past – we had won battles but lost the war.

We lived in gulags unable to go and come as we once had – gone were the hunts and the nomadic lifestyle characteristic to many of us, but most importantly what was missing was the ability to be ourselves.

In that loss pride and self respect had become endangered – tribal governments drifted away from tradition and we became dependent for the very essentials to sustain us.

A void AIM recognized and seized upon – if the intent was ever a worthy one it quickly segued into the pursuit of power and money.

A pursuit that abandoned all cultural norms and led to murder, drunken and drug induced revelry during ceremonies, and an agenda to usurp and marginalize the role of traditional elders.

An agenda that shouldn’t have fooled anyone save for the void that existed and the voice of nations crying out for relief, for independence and the sovereignty that was and remains our birthright.

The leadership often spoke of being adept at theater, a tool they employed – they spoke of the poverty and disenfranchisement of “their people” and the “people’s movement” AIM was.

Yet even as they spoke such things they scammed and stole donations that would have, should have, been of some benefit to “their people” and they did so with an increasing sense of arrogance and stop us if you can attitude.

If you didn’t sing their praises you were either a fed or a sellout – a fed as in an informant and a sellout as a hang around the fort.

When in truth it was the leadership who were selling out – selling out to groups like the CPUSA, and despotic oppressive foreign governments as they sang the songs not of the people but of a Judas goat.

In truth it was some number among the leadership that became feds as an act of self preservation.

An environment conducive to individuals like Peltier and Hill, – an environment where thuggery was celebrated within the ranks – toting a gun or making bombs the individuals bona fides should any question whether they were a warrior or not.

But also an environment that provided insulation for Means, Bank$, etal predicated on the closed society nature of the rez, intimidation, and the awareness that AIM would just as soon kill you, a family member, or a child if they were to be taken at their word as they would blink an eye.

Means who multiple family members of his were involved in the abduction and murder of Annie Mae.

Means who inspite of boasting nothing AIM related could take place in his personal fiefdom shed the crocodile tears of pure snake oil some twenty plus years later to claim he knew nothing about the events until that year, 1999 – his personal turmoil and grief upon learning the call to murder Annie was taken at his brothers house was almost too much to bear.

Bank$ always assuming the role of the misunderstood victim professed his undying love for Annie and had he only known in time, and further soils her name, her memory, in saying “we” all loved and trusted her.

While ignoring it was he who identified Annie’s remains in an arroyo on PR when discovered days before anyone else was able to, and did this from a distance of a thousand miles or so away.

Bank$, who like Means, Leonard Crow Dog and the rest of them never missed an opportunity to name brand a ceremony and charge a fee for attendance and now likens himself to a spiritual leader as the scams continue.

Bank$ and Means, warriors and protectors who never lifted a finger to protect anyone but themselves, who in their professed respect for Annie never attended her funeral, never so much as phoned her daughters or family to offer condolences.

And Peltier with a history of preferring thirteen year old girls, interrogating women and coercing them into making bombs – another “warrior” and “protector” who is destined to die in prison and rightfully so – another AIM “hero”.

Dave Hill who after being busted for bombing Mt. Rushmore let it be known if his buds didn’t pony up bail and quickly he would start talking.

Start talking – and then did to be released on his personal recognizance, only to be arrested on a states weapons charges that subsequently were dropped at the behest of the feds for services rendered.

Yeah, heroes and warriors one all who lived by the adage it’s a good day to die, as long as it was someone else who did the dying like Annie, Perry Ray Robinson jr, Roque Duenas, and their multiple victims at WK2.

The AIM manifesto is a harder sell now than it was what with the internet and all, once their vehicle of choice to scam and propagandize now the proverbial tiger whose tail they dare not let go of, a door they opened but cannot close.

A pick and shovel day related to forming a footer, started with the sun, formed it up, mixed and poured the concrete after adding lime to accelerate the drying time and it should be ready to go tomorrow, leaving nothing else to do but head home.While working I thought a great deal about the previous blog All Should Have Equal Rights and thought to expand on it as follows – so a quick cup and a biscuit as I blog this and then on to chores.

“If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace.”

Obviously the approach wasn’t about living in peace, it was about acquisition and whatever it took to achieve that.

“Peace” was a secondary consideration when it became apparent acquisition and conquest wasn’t going to be a cake walk – a peace cobbled together in such a fashion as to insure the end game of acquisition.

The mere language of treaties is a defacto admission that if anyone owned the land we did – you cannot cede land or resources unless you have a proprietary claim.

In the mind of the boat people might made right – but theirs was a selective interpretation – had they of actually believed that they would have accepted the status quo in their own country and stayed there.

Some fled religious persecution and yet having done so brought it with them and actively engaged in it.

Some fled excessive taxation and an oppressive government and then went about establishing the same system.

Some spoke of the inherent equality of all people and never observed it.

Some spoke of the love of Jesus for all people and yet withheld it inspite of being the “God fearing Christians” they claimed.

Native American, if ever there was a nisnomer applied to any people it has been the indigenous people of this country, for any born here are Native American, and we never called this land America.

We are indigenous, the first people, sub divided by our tribal names.

The first people, whether the belief is we originated here or migrated across the Bering land bridge to settle in a continent devoid of people and usurping no one.

No argument can be made that this land wasn’t ours, or that if theft and robbery doesn’t translate to ownership it remains ours.

Yeah, I know, “get over it”…..those expressing such words of wisdom must likewise feel their ancestors should have just gotten over it and made the best of where they were instead of leaving.

More appropriately such sages should try getting over that sense of privilege and entitlement they have.

The thing about laws and treaties are their ability to make right look wrong and wrong like right. Something governments, legislation, and politicians are noted for.

A land of opportunity – the question is opportunity for who? Corporations, banks, Wall Street, and the one percenters? Opportunities in the form of perks and lobbyist money for politicians?

Where are the opportunities for our people, for minorities?

Is it those “service oriented” jobs like flipping burgers, working as a maid, or some other menial task?

Working for a poverty minimum wage, being warehoused in the gulags known as the rez, the projects, being homeless, racially profiled, or dependent on food stamps and the like?

Misery and poverty aren’t specific to any one group of people – they are universal in character-white, black, red, yellow, brown, doesn’t make a bit of difference, and the indifference to that reality by the “haves” is why I say there should be a unified poor peoples political party composed of all the disenfranchised selecting, advancing, and voting for their candidate chosen from within their ranks – a thought no doubt that scares the crap out of the entrenched and their corporate handlers.

I don’t begrudge anyone whatever measure of success and security they have if they earned it with honesty and integrity, a standard that finds a great many to be lacking, but what I say is don’t turn a blind eye to the inequities that exist, don’t turn a blind eye to where you may have came from or what you may have overcome, don’t engage in the consent of silence, and don’t bow down to anyone – don’t accept it as just the way it is, your lot in life.

Estimates are that something like seventy five percent of our people live off rez, there are obvious reasons for that, reasons that shouldn’t exist, shouldn’t separate families.

The rez is the nucleus – the epicenter of culture, a sort of seed bank like the one in Norway serving to protect the future.

Norway saving uncorrupted “heritage” plant seeds, and one could say the rez is tasked with saving the heritage of culture and traditions.

The more that leave and the more corrupted the seeds on the rez become the more difficult the task.

The relocation act was an attempt to disperse and absorb our people with promises of job training, employment, and an economically better life – one has to wonder if an effort is made to maintain the poverty and lack of opportunity on the rez as an incentive for others to leave.

For the population to dwindle to such a size that those who remain will be easier to manipulate, easier to appropriate resources from.

The rez faces multiple challenges, none more immediate than the internal corruption that is taking place within our very own backyard – among the priorities to deal with that must become one that is high on the list.

I’ve long admired the position Iceland has taken, the embrace of their inherent rights as a sovereign people and nation.

I would think with all the concerns related to privacy and violations of the most fundamental of rights it would become the server capital of the world….but that would probably lead to “economic sanctions” and other coercive measures.

The world is marching in lock step to a global police state led by none other than that bastion of “liberty and free speech” the U.S.-thank you George Bush, and Obama who has embraced such policies as though he were conjoined to them.

I wouldn’t give two cents for either conservative or liberal ideology, there is a common sense middle ground that better serves.

I am an indigenous person and know all too well the face of oppression, disenfranchisement, and life in the gulag, euphemistically referred to as the rez.

Five hundred plus years of what we as a people have endured is coming to your neighborhood as bloated corporations and government seek to perpetuate what has become the status quo as the middle class dwindles, poverty increases, and wages decline as more and more jobs are exported leading to dozens of applicants for each job that remains – an employers dream come true as it suppresses wages and whether there are workers rights and benefits or not.

As a demographic small in numbers and not one to rely upon as a campaign donations source or a significant voting bloc we have little if any voice or influence.

We are photo ops and perhaps even a test audience to refine the rhetoric of the campaign trail at best.

An integral cog in the vehicle of decline is unreasoning, blind, party partisanship that is willing to overlook the moat in it’s own eye and be content with pointing the finger and passing the buck.

Content to listen to the words of carefully coiffed and manufactured media talking heads with a staff of writers making megabucks and so far removed from the day to day realities as to be laughable.

Divide and conquer – facilitated by the wedge of partisanship driven into the heart of a nation.

Partisanship has created a condition of stasis, too many lies, too many behind closed doors manuverings, too much legislation crafted by corporations and their lobbyists that whatever a person believes they voted for is cancelled, too many secret courts issuing secret warrants, too many out of control agencies, all of which for many leads to a resigned complacently that occasionally will utter an internet yelp from the comfort of their living room.

The opposite of that are trolls who drone on about patriotism or all that is wrong offering a solution to all things if only people would listen to them, and yet never participated in a single demonstration, never took a visible stand, never risked anything save perhaps developing a callous on their butt, blisters on their fingers from typing, or a migraine from what they refer to as “critical thinking”.

The first duty of “patriotism” is to speak the truth however unsettling or unpopular it may be, fully aware that you be will labeled a hater or subversive.

The second duty is to shape the face of government and direct the course it takes, not the opposite, it makes no difference if you are a citizen of this country, any other country, or the various nations of my people, for all are obliged to raise their voice against that which threatens the common welfare, that which is inequitable.

This is YOUR government, it has never been ours, no inclusion based on that premise of all being created equal has ever existed for us. We had our own form of “government” that worked and was wrested from us.

We have been dragged along through wars, depressions, social unrest, injustice, economic upheaval, political machinations, corporate greed, and now the decline of empire.

Whatever impacts the people of this country will impact the nations even more due to the poverty, unemployment, lack of opportunity, minority status, and above all lack of sovereignty.

Without sovereignty we will never have a traditional form of government again – if you value your’s it’s time to set the bickering of partisanship aside, hold the officials you elect to strict account and forgo the koolaid and those talking heads you’ve so come to admire.

It isn’t about that trite “it is what it is”- what it is about is what it could and should be.

“America love it or leave it” – that’s like saying if you love your body, yourself, and there is a cancer upon it either love the cancer or ignore it, do nothing and accept the inevitable without addressing it.

Better I think to say if you love your country, your homeland, your community, address the issues, all of them, and in doing so seek to restore it to a healthy cancer free condition.

V doesn’t stand for vendetta, it stands for vision, viability, value or the lack it when voting, and the political victory and aspirations of any freedom loving people.

Wave the banner of your country if so inclined and I will wave the banner of mine, of the nations – if we share the same values, the same love of family and our people we will find common ground- in doing so all will be served.

Having said that and in view of those celebrating Xmas, those who celebrated Hannuka, and all who have followed, read, or commented on this blog, best wishes to you and yours whether we have found ourselves in agreement or not.